To clarify his central theme of rejecting objectivity in moral reasoning, Mackie explains “The Argument of Relativity” which discusses the variation in moral perspectives from other societies and cultures who experience different methods of living. Since every civilization differs in living standards and their ways of life, it can be agreed that not everyone will have identical sets of moral values. As a result, this dismantles the idea of having objective moral reasoning. This is because it’s not possible for one population cannot be more right or moral than the other since they all have differentiating values. In turn, since this moral disagreement exists amongst individualistic settlements, Mackie says that it’s implausible to have a universalistic,…
Callarman’s argument is the most accurate view of Into The Wild and Chris McCandless’s decision. Chris made an ignorant decision based on his current feelings and how his parents treated him. You can’t succeed in the future with your actions at this point and time, but you sure can throw out your future with your current actions. And that is exactly what Chris did, he went from graduating from Emory University, to moving into the Alaskan wilderness and dying. He had the foundation of his life set, ready to take on the next step of his life, but he believed that the wild would hold something valuable for him to find.…
The day a person is born is the day they are given rights, including the freedom of speech, happiness, and the ability to express there self. These rights are often taken for granted. However, some gay people are often denied these rights. In May-June of 2010, Stephanie Fairyington wrote "The Gay Option". This date provides information of how the world might have reacted to gay people coming out in that time period.…
Questions on Three Narratives 1. What is the difference between naysaying ethics and yeasaying ethics? Explain. What does this have to do with the story of the people of LeChambon? Naysaying ethics “forbids our doing certain harmful things”, even if that means to close the eyes to the reality and don’t do what people know it’s a right decision.…
One particular debate that has bedeviled humanity since its inception is the question of the nature of human morality. We as humans argue about the source of morality: most religious fundamentalists argue that morality comes from a deity, whereas secularists tend to argue that morality comes from within and is subjective. We also argue about its objectivity, and many will attest that their moral code is a paragon above all others. Morality is a code by which most sane humans live their lives; it would seem logical that such a dominant force in human interaction would foster such discourse. Amongst all the uncertainty in the nature of morality, however, there is but one certainty: morality is based entirely on perspective.…
John Leslie Mackie maintained that there is no objective moral truth. Throughout my essay I aim to establish what Mackie meant by this, I shall then go on to explore his ‘Argument from Relativity’ (more commonly known as the argument from disagreement) which he displays in his paper ‘The subjectivity of Values’ (1977). Finally, I shall investigate an important objection to the argument outlining how Mackie and other scholars respond to these critics. I believe that they respond sufficiently to the criticisms, critics appear to make fundamental misunderstandings regarding the way in which agents construct their beliefs leading them to falsely conclude that objective values exist. As a moral anti-realist Mackie supposes that moral properties cannot exist independently of the mind.…
On October 6, 1998 two men took Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, about a mile outside of Laramie, Wyoming, after being lured away from a bar. These men took him out to a split-rail fence, bust his skull open with a .375 Magnum, then left him for dead. He was found later the next day by two bikers, only eighteen hours after the being brutally assaulted just because of his sexuality. When the bikers first saw Matthew tied to the fence, they thought that he was a scarecrow, but sooner realized that it was a person. Senator Craig Thomas called the attack "the most violent, barbaric thing I've ever heard happening in Wyoming.”…
In the last Chapter, Rachels discusses the creation of a "Satisfactory Moral Theory”, in this paper I will discuss my own creation of the Satisfactory Moral Theory. The moral theories are supposed to help us decide what are the right and wrong actions, but, not all the moral theories are perfect. We may feel that a certain conclusion to a problem is fair or unfair, but what theory do we use to make judgments?. I will start with the cultural relativism theory, to understand different cultures, There is a need to know that one community’s beliefs and practices are not usually the same as the other community. In fact, cultural relativism seems the most applicable approach to be taken on for communications purposes.…
Carl Wittman's an L.G.B.T Activist wrote in his book A Gay Manifesto, " To be free we must govern ourselves, set up our own organizations, protect ourselves" (Wittman, 75). The quote establishes the goals that many of the people from the gay community wanted in their lives. Many of these gay people wanted the same right that heterosexual people had. The Stonewall riots proved to not just gays but all people that enough time had passed. They wanted equal rights it was going to be in everyone lives not just one sexual orientation.…
personal beliefs etc. do not deny claims. Thus, moral objectivism believes in the existence of objective values; it alleges that moral claims are true without regard to personal beliefs. In his linguistic thesis, Mackie believes that ordinary moral judgments ‘include a claim to objectivity,…
a person’s standards of behavior or beliefs concerning what is and is not acceptable for them to do. This essay intends point out the relevant aspects of moral theologians, Kant, Mill, Aristotle and Held and to answer the question of the best suited approach in resolving ethical problems and dilemmas. Kant I have found that Kant’s theory is the most complicated and confusing of the four. It was only made somewhat clear by the explanation in O’Neill’s reading.…
DNA, written by Dennis Kelly in 2008, is about a group of teenagers trying to cover up their accidental crime by entwining themselves with a series of calamitous lies. This extract is from act three scene three and four where Phil instructs Cathy to kill Adam by using Brian, whilst Leah tries to convince Phil to get back on a morally right track. However, she fails and “storms off” (line 43). This essay will analyse how the writer explores the theme of morality in the extract by using the interaction between the characters, dialogue, and stage direction in order to effectively communicate the true meaning of morality.…
”(Landau175) The moral subjectivists uphold the idea that moral claims are only true, if they are objectively true. But what makes these true? Consequently what establishes their validity is the fact that they rely on subjective states of a person; states of desire, preference, or dislike. As a moral subjectivist Mackie gives two arguments for his point of view: the argument of relativity and the argument of queerness.…
In Folkways, William Graham Sumner claimed that morality is actually just a reflection of the mores. He further argued that since morality came from the typical culture groups, it should be only bounded within the group but not universally. The thesis Sumner raised in his argument, aka, ethical relativism, had been challenged by many objections. In this essay, I will provide one objection of ethical relativism and argue that even Sumner attempted to address the objection; his thesis is still fallacious due to begging the question. One critical objection to ethical relativism is the absurd objection.…
This is where Rachels’ reasoning falls short. If morality is supposedly based on some sort of nomenclature, the only way to accommodate for all of mankind’s variances is to assume that one’s morality is just a matter of one’s own desires. Thus, in rebuttal, cultural relativists may submit to the consequences that Rachel has outlined, but advocate the theory of ethical…